Thank you for all your lovely reviews! To answer some of your questions, Jess and Rory are 9 in this. Also I know a lot of you have pointed out that I had put Stars Hollow High School instead of Stars Hollow Elementary School. I've changed that now. Sorry for the confusion! Here's the next chapter! :)

Chapter 36

A weeks had passed and Jess was starting to feel more settled. He had got over his bug and had now started school with Rory. He was helping Luke open up at the diner this one day while Lorelai and Rory were sleeping in. The bells suddenly jingled above the diner door so they both looked up.

"We're clos..." Luke started to say but then stopped. "Liz..."

"Hey big bro!" She exclaimed.

Luke glanced at Jess who had an impassive expression on his face. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I've come to bring Jess home of course!" She said like it was obvious. "Hey kid, get in the car. We're going home." She exclaimed.

Luke started to get angry. "Hang on a minute! You can't just come here and demand that Jess go back with you. He's settled, Liz. He likes school, he's got friends here." He exclaimed.

"He'll have his old friends." Liz said shrugging him off.

"You said..." Luke started to say.

"I know, I know, but I changed my mind. Jess is my boy and I've come to take him home." Liz said. "I'm his mom. I'm allowed to change my mind. Come on Jess." She said grabbing Jess' hand.

Luke didn't know what to do. They hadn't finalised the custody papers yet so legally Liz could take Jess.

"Say by to your uncle, Jess." Liz said. "Thanks big bro!"

Luke just stood there helpless as he watched Liz lead Jess out to the car. He saw Jess look back at him but not say anything. He felt awful as he watched them drive off. He stormed over to the door and turned the sign to closed. He wasn't opening today. He went to the phone and rang the familiar number.

"Hate you..." Lorelai mumbled sleepily.

"She's taken him! She's taken Jess and I couldn't do anything about it!" Luke exclaimed.

"Woah slow down." Lorelai said suddenly awake. "Who's taken him?"

"Liz! Liz breezed in here this morning, announced she wanted to take Jess home and I could do nothing about it because we haven't signed the custody papers! I couldn't do a damn thing and Jess didn't say anything. He must hate me!" Luke ranted.

"Hon, calm down." Lorelai said softly. "Are you at the diner?"

"Yeh.." He grunted.

"I'll be right over. I just need to go ask Babette to sit with Rory for a bit." She said.

"Ok." Luke said hanging up. He looked round the diner and started to clear away the tables that he had set already. He thought about Jess and how he just left with Liz but he knew Jess didn't want to go. He could see it in his face and he just stood there like a complete idiot not being able to do anything. He looked down at the mug he was holding and suddenly he threw it across the diner and its smashed against the wall. "Arghhh!" He groaned and kicked a chair over as well.

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaimed as she came in at that moment.

Luke just leant against the counter and slid down so that he was sitting on the floor and put his head in his hands. "I failed him.." He said emotionally.

Lorelai sighed and went over and sat next to him. "You didn't fail him, Luke." She said softly. "You gave him a home. He was happy."

"I let her take him. He didn't want to go, I could see it but I couldn't do a damn thing about it." Luke said. "He must hate me!"

Lorelai put her arm around him. "Hey, he does not hate you." She said softly. "He got the bus all the way here just to see you when you were hospital. He loves you Luke. He'll understand. He's a bright boy. He'll understand."

Luke looked up at her and Lorelai could see he was trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. "He was so happy about being my best man. I really wanted him to be." He said quietly. "I want him at our wedding."

"He will be." Lorelai said. "We won't do it without him, I promise."

"You should have seen him, Lorelai. He was looking at me, begging me not to let her take him..." Luke said quietly.

"You can't beat yourself up, Luke. Like you said, Liz is legally allowed to take him home." Lorelai said softly.

"It was nice having part of my family here. He reminds me of my dad." Luke admitted.

"I love him too, Luke. But he's still part of our family." Lorelai said. "You can still fight for custody."

Luke looked up at her. "A kid deserves to be with their mother..." He said quietly. "Any court will see that."

Lorelai shook her head. "No. He deserves to be with people who will look after him and love him. You need to think positive."

"I threw a mug..." He admitted.

Lorelai smirked. "I saw that..."

Luke sighed.

"Luke, you were amazing with Jess. He isn't going to hate you. You never know, Liz might get bored again and send him back and you can get custody." She said. She then sighed. "Jess is a great kid. I'm going to miss him too. He was really starting to feel part of the family. And Rory...oh god Rory...how are we going to tell her?" She said.

Luke sighed. "Those two were inseparable."

"Apart from Lane, he was her only friend. They got on so well." Lorelai said quietly.

"We'll tell her together." Luke decided.

"But this place..." Lorelai said.

"I'm not opening together. I can't act like everything's normal when it isn't. I want to be with you and Rory today." He said quietly.

She nodded. "Ok come on then.." She said getting up and holding her hand out to Luke.

He took it and got up. He went and cleaned up the mug and then headed home with Lorelai.

"Jess is gone?" Rory asked quietly.

"He's gone back to live with his mom." Lorelai explained.

Rory looked at the both of them who were sat on the couch. She looked at Luke. "I thought she wasn't looking after him? He said he wanted to live here with you! I thought you wanted that too!"

"I did. I do." Luke said.

"Then why didn't you stop her?" Rory said getting upset.

"Hon, it's not Luke's fault. He tried to stop him but he couldn't. Jess' mom has a right to come and take him home." Lorelai said.

"But he didn't want to go!" Rory exclaimed.

"Hon, I know you two were close but you'll still get to see him." Lorelai said softly.

"You said he was going to be part of the family! I told him I would let him read Oliver Twist after me! We were going to talk about it afterwards!" Rory shouted upset.

"You can still do that." Lorelai said.

"No I can't! He's gone! It's ruined! It's all ruined!" Rory shouted and ran to her room and they heard the door slam behind her.

Luke put his head in his hands. "She's right..."

"Luke..." Lorelai tried to say.

Luke shook his head. "She's right. Jess didn't want to live with Liz. He told me. He told me he didn't like it and I promised I wouldn't send him back."

"Luke..." Lorelai said softly.

"I'd be a rubbish dad. I'm not cut out for this. If I can let Jess down like this, what am I going to do to Rory? She doesn't need me letting her down like her dad as well. I can't do this." He said getting up.

"Luke!"

Luke shook his head. "I need some air." He said and left the house.

Lorelai sighed but let him go. She understood he needed some space. She heard some sniffling from behind her and turned to see Rory standing in the hallway. "Hey hon..." She gave her a small smile.

"Did Luke leave because of me?" Rory asked quietly. "Because of what I said?"

"No hon. Come here." Lorelai said softly holding out her arms to him.

Rory went over and sat next to her mom and snuggled close to her. "I didn't mean it. I know Luke wouldn't want Jess to leave. I was just...just upset." She sniffed.

"I know. And he knows that too." Lorelai reassured her. "Luke's just needs some space, that's all. He's going to miss him."

"Me too..." Rory admitted.

"We're all going to miss him." Lorelai said softly. "But we need to stick together. Luke needs our support."

Rory nodded. "I'm sorry I shouted.." She said quietly.

"It's ok." Lorelai smiled and held her close. "How about we watch some tv and then we can go find Luke?"

Rory nodded and turned on the tv, snuggling into her.

So a bit of a sad chapter there but I promise you it will get better! :) Review and let me know what you think! :) Thanks!